Driving-check for horses



(No Model.)

B. L. METGALF.

DRIVING CHECK FOR HORSES.

Inve nta 2 Jil NITED STATES PATENT IrrIcE ERASTUS LOVELL METGALF, OF FRANKLIN, MASSACHUSETTS.

ADRIVQINGHCHECK FOR HORSES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 322,627 dated July 21, 1885.

Application filed April '29, 1885.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ERASTUS LOVELL MET- OALF, of Franklin, in the county of Norfolk, of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Driving-Checks for Horses; and I do hereby declare the same to be described in the following specification, and represented in the accompanying drawings, of which Figure l is a perspective view of a head stall provided with my invention, the nature of which is defined in the claims hereinafter presented. Fig. 2 is a top view, Fig. 3 a side view, Fig. 4 a horizontal section, and Fig. 5 a transverse section of the duplex driving-check appertaining to my said invention.

The said driving-check is to answer the purpose of a bit as used in the mouth of a horse, and is not to enter the mouth, but to encompass the head at the nose and just above the rear lip of the animal.

In the drawings, A denotes aheadstall of ordinary construction of which a is the checkuse one with the driving-check.

rein.

Instead of a bit there is suspended from the two hanging straps, b, of the headstall the said duplex driving-check B,which,as shown, is composed of two flexile or elastic bows,c 01, arranged one under and at a short distance from the other, and connected near their free ends by two bars or extensions, 6, going from one to the other and firmly joined to both of them. Each bow, preferably, is made of plate-steel, covered with leather or other suitable material, and at each end of it terminates in an enlargement, f, from which there is extended an eye, 9. In each enlargement of the upper bow there are curved slots h i, the upper ones, h, being to receive the hanging straps b and the check-rein, in order to connect the duplex check to the headstall and check-rein. The lower slots, 1 are to receive the buckling-straps of a martingale, when it may be desirable to There is ex tended through the two eyes of each bow one of two contracting-straps, 0, each of which, where projecting outwardly beyond the eyes, is provided with rings is for connecting it to the two end portions of drivingreins. Each of the said rings is of a size sufficient to prevent it from being drawn through the eye (No model.)

when the strap is pulled lengthwise therein. The said strap has a buckle, 0, at one end of it. In applying the strap to the two eyes and its two rings, the strap, at the opposite end of it to which the buckle is affixed, may be inserted through one of the eyes and thence through one of the rings, thence through the same eye, thence through the other eye,thencc through the other ring, thence through the last-named eye and into the buckle. In this way the strap will be folded on itselfiand each ring will be suspended from one of the eyes by a loop of the strap, and the strap in its folded state may be pulled lengthwise either way by a rein, so as to bring either ring close up to the eye next it. To cause the horse to turn either to the right or to the left,the reins are to be used in the ordinary manner in which they are with a common bit.

In using the duplex driving-check there may be two separate pairs of reins applied to it,or there may be one pair, I, fixed to the upper contracting-strap, O, and there may be short straps m buckled to the lower strap, 0, and extended to and buckled to the reins Z of such pair.

applied to his head, the lower bow of each check comes just above his nostrils, and both bows embrace his nose, their straps O extending across the rear of his lower jaw above the lip thereof. To check the animal, the reins of the upper bow are to be pulled so as to draw its strap 0 near both ends or loops of it through the ey es of the bow, in which case the bow will be contracted and drawn in closely against the nose. Should such not suffice to arrest the horse, a further pull on the reins will cause the strap 0 of the lower bow to be drawn upon in a manner to contract such bow around the nose, and at the same time induce a leverage on the nose of the animal, by which his head will be drawn downward and backward to an extent that will in most, if not all cases, cause him to either stop or slacken his pace. I

The duplex check is far more powerful and certain in its action than a curb-bit or a check having but one bow, and operated by a single pair of reins applied to the contracting-strap of such bow.

Iherein make no claim to the single driving- In driving a horse with the duplex check check composed of a bow provided with eyes at its ends, and a contracting device or strap going through such eyes and connected to a rein. Nor do I claim a driving-check consisting of two metallic check-pieces,ajaw-holdery and two straps, each of such straps being connected to one of the check-pieces and extended through the other, all being as shown in the United States Patent N 0. 200,7 81; for, instead of straps I use two separate bows,each having at its ends eyes, as described, and such bows are arranged one above and at a distance from the other, and both are rigidly connected by bars, going upward from the lower to the up per of said bows near their free ends, as set forth. WVhen straps, applied as described to check-pieces, are used, each strap,when pulled by its rein, operates not only to draw forward the check-piece to which it is affixed, but to draw the other check-piece upward out of place; whereas with my duplex driving-check nothing of the kind takes place, the two bars having eyes and being rigidly connected by cross-bars near their next adjacent ends no part or parts of the check can be drawn forward by their reins when pulled.

I claim- 1. The duplex driving-check, substantially as described, consisting of the two bows arranged one over the other and apart from each other, and having two eyes to each at their ends, and rigidly connected by bars or projections extending from one to the other, all essentially as set forth.

2. The combination of the two contractingstraps, 0, provided with buckles and rings, as represented, with the duplex driving-check, substantially as described, consisting of the two bows, having two pairs of eyes and arranged one over the other and apart from each other, and rigidly connected by bars, as described,one of the said straps being extended, as explained, through the eyes of one of the bows,and the other through those of the other how, and both straps being for use with a rein or reins, as described.

3. The combination of the two contracting-straps C, and their four rings k, with reins applied to such rings, and with the duplex driving check and its supporting headstall, such duplex driving check consisting of the two elastic bows, their connections and eyes, and having the two straps. extended through the said eyes and the rings, in manner substantially as set forth.

ERASTUS LOVELL METOALF.

Vitnesses:

R. H. EDDY, S. N. PIPER. 

